Don’t be Scared of Eclipse

Being that it is quiet on the WoW news front I have been thinking about talking about the books and comics I occasionally read. Husband has a great collection that I pilfer for something to read. I have my own short box of comics to read from them.

Currently I am in the middle of reading Planetary. I am reading the three hardcovers. I LOVED the first volume. The stories were inclusive and you follow the main character from adventure to adventure. Then I started reading the second volume… and stopped. I got twitchy when it revealed who the mysterious Fourth Man was and … well I had a moment of “Ugg. This is so contrived.”

Husband rolled his eyes at me. He made me promise to finish reading it... in a shorter time it took them to finish the series. The set of hardcovers are sitting on my night stand to be finished. The writer, Warren Ellis, did not fail in telling this story, but I need to get into the right mindset to reread parts and finish off the story. John Cassaday does these beautiful covers to each issue of the comic. Each of them is a study in a different style and a thrill to discover.

I will come back to this series when I finish it…

I, Hydra, admit to reading the first three books of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. BUT … okay… I have no excuse.

My sister-in-law had the first two books and let me borrow them to read. That was over a year ago.

When I broke from my casual reading of Planetary I picked up Eclipse from the library. Without all the advertising for the movie I would never have given this series another thought. I have never seen the movies. I also have no plans to see it in theater.

Admittedly the books are an easy read. If you read passed all the emo high school high jinks and get to the world the writer crates, it kept my interest. I would describe it as romance novel with vampires. Easy read for entertainment purposes for moments you don’t want in-depth thinking. This is exactly what you want in a decent romance novel.

None of the books went into my collection. Plus, not one cent went to supporting Vampires that sparkle. *cheer* For libraries.

Maybe I will go back and reread Pride and Prejudice. I also should finish reading the technical book on computer networking I am part way through. There is a fourth Twilight book right?

Video: WarLock [Tik Tok Machinima Parody]

Patch 3.3.5 - With More Purr

No change for classes. There is now a new dragon to kill. Also, included is an improved way to chat with those you want to chat with. (Chat = cat in french... the title was clever then I typed it, I'm not changing it now.)

Don't freak out that there was no 3.3.4. I am sure it was a place holder if anything horrid happened to fix prior patches.

Below is the full patch notes since it is small.

Assault on the Ruby Sanctum

For ages the red dragonflight and its noble matriarch, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder, have dedicated themselves to preserving all life on Azeroth. Recently, the very heart of this virtuous dragonflight has come under threat.

An eerie silence has settled over the Ruby Sanctum, the red dragonflight's sacred lair within the Chamber of the Aspects. This troubling development has led to fears that the sanctum, home to Azeroth's largest clutch of red dragon eggs, has been breached by an unknown, sinister force. If these claims are true and immediate action is not taken, the benevolent red dragonflight might be crippled forever.

Real ID: A New Way to Connect With Your Friends on Battle.net

One of our goals for the new Battle.net is to create the framework for an online gaming experience that is even more accessible, more engaging, and more entertaining than the previous Battle.net. The newly released Real ID feature, available to World of Warcraft players as part of patch 3.3.5, is an integral part of this effort, providing you with advanced ways for forming and maintaining meaningful relationships with your friends on the service.

Real ID is a completely voluntary and optional level of identity that keeps players connected across all of Battle.net. When you and a friend mutually agree to become Real ID friends, you'll have access to a number of additional features that will enrich your social gaming experience in new and exciting ways. Go here for more details.

General

The Ruby Sanctum, an all-new 10- and 25-player raid dungeon featuring normal and Heroic difficulties, has been added! Players will find the dungeon entrance below Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight. Please note due to the way this patch is being applied in all regions, this dungeon will not immediately be available in North America. Stay tuned to our General Discussion forum for an official announcement on the opening of the Ruby Sanctum.
The functionality of the Vote Kick feature in the Dungeon Finder will now behave differently according to a player's history with the system. Players using the Dungeon Finder who rarely vote to kick players from a group, or rarely abandon groups before a dungeon is complete, will find that the Vote Kick option will have no cooldown. For players who frequently abandon groups or vote to kick other players, the Vote Kick option will be kept on a cooldown. This functionality will adjust itself as a player's behavior while using the Dungeon Finder changes.

User Interface

Chat Frame
Players can now right-click on any chat type (Whisper, Trade, General, Party, Raid, etc.) and choose to move conversation types into separate windows. This will move that chat type to a separate tab in the Chat frame which can be undocked and moved anywhere on the screen.
Using the Move to Whisper Window option on a Whisper will place the conversation with that player in a separate tab.
Any time a conversation with another player is put into its own tab, the tab will glow when a new message is received.
Hovering over the Chat Frame and using the mouse wheel will allow players to scroll through chat text.
Players can select Classic Mode under Interface Options to keep the Chat Frame functionality closer to what it was prior to patch 3.3.5.
The Simple Chat User Interface option has been removed.
Friends List
A new icon has been added to the top left of the Chat Frame which will open up the Friends list.
In addition to its current functionality, the Friends List will now allow players to add Battle.net accounts (Real ID). Players will have to confirm that they are friends in order for a Real ID to be added. Once Real ID friends, players can communicate cross-game, cross-faction and cross-realm.
A new Pending tab has been added where players can accept or decline a Real ID friend request, or select the Report Spam or Block Communications buttons.
Players can now select from three statuses which will be visible to their friends: Available, Away and Busy.
A Broadcast window has been added to the top of the frame. Players can use this to broadcast a message to all of their Real ID friends online. This message will also be displayed under the broadcaster's Real ID information in each friend's list.
For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.

Has the Ice Stone Melted?

Answer Link.

Night Shift of Farstriders Lich King Video

Faidwen does a great job with videos. His music timing makes me laugh (like using Back to Life when we are mass resed at the end.)

I think that dancing gnome right after the title is me. (Thanks Faid!) I deduce this because I am
1) one of only 2 raiding gnomes,
2) the only female gnome, and
3) the only lock gnome.

If you take the time to watch, I am the gnome running around. I tend to drop a lot of green portals during the Lich King fight. During transition phases I am on the opposite side of the mob then Faid is filming. (He stands by the hunters and they tend to muck out the stables before raid.)

I am a little sad. I was hoping since this was a lock view of the fight he would get picked up by the Val’kyr in phase 2. This would have let me point out the lock portal in action. I think on this run I was the lock that got picked up.

You will notice him placing his portal down each time he changes position on the platform. This is a key element to not getting out of range. You will see me doing it too.

In the last phase there is a great shot of the two of us running to dps. You can clearly see after Faid got Defile the two of us running and casting. I think that was a great lock moment.

When we all yell at the kill you can just hear me say “Congrats everybody” and no I am not the only girl in raid.

I will not make comments on how he is an add-on whore and a clicker… which makes him a keyboard turner probably. But this does make me jealous that he can have that many add-ons running and record video without lagging.

For prosperity I will state that I was third highest dps on the kill. Yes, the 34-year-old six(6) month pregnant woman rocked the house.

... I just noticed in a second viewing to make sure I didn't miss anything I wanted to point out for you...our raid leader yelling at pull
/Y FOR THE GLORY OF THE HOLE.

Yeppers, we are a classy raid.

Check Out Flinthammer Hall

Flinthammer Hall is an RP blog I enjoy immensely. Ringo has been telling us about his exploits on Azeroth for years. He is joined by his wife Beli and lots of other family and friends.

You can start their tale back before Ahn’Qiraj. Follow them through fighting the Burning Legion. Watch as they step onto Northrend soil and then take down the Lich King. Today, they can currently be found in Khaz Modan.

Reading their stories through the years is an adventure in itself. There has been poignant glimpse into the feelings of a father off to war. (I admit I cried while reading the letter and then reflecting back.) There are funny ones about one of his friends having a sex change and then back again. There are gorgeous images done by Beli like the one she did for the Holidays.

I would highly recommend listening to Ringo and Beli interviewed on Twisted Nether. For no other reason then hearing how they put together all those beautiful images on their site.

Beyond any of that ... Dwarf chicks are hot.

Hydra the Kingslayer

Would it surprise anyone if when I was in Fourth grade I was in a group called “The Ball Busters”? When I was finally caught beating the snot out of guys by the playground adults was made to write “I will not beat up on boys.” or some such nonsense 100 times. It is still one of my parents’ favorite stories about my childhood.

Apparently, it did not stick!
Night Shift killed 25-man Lich King!! (I think we were third on server.) We extended the Raid ID so we could start fresh Tuesday on The Lich King. The first pull we got to the last phase. It looked soooOOOooo very promising.

After that we had a few oopsie mistakes…
like a tank dropping off the edge in transition,
defile being dropped in melee,
healers not know what to do in the last phase, and
IDK, 'cause when I was picked up by a Val’kyr I fumbled my keybinding and hit Shadow Ward instead of my Demonic Circle key and fell to my untimely death.I don’t know how many people died by the end but we got to the last phase with only one down. Last phase we did the run away from the thingies that explode. Some didn’t like it. But for us it worked because it made everyone stay moving with the defile not being laid down on melee.

I stopped and watch the cut scene that I EARNED for the first time. It didn't make it any less awesome. Now I just want to know when do I get to go save Gnomeregan.

Queue Buster: Haiku Contest

Head over to Twisted Nether Blogcast site for the details.

Yes, the Haiku was my idea.
Yes, the topic of Twisted Nether was my idea.
No, Fimlys named the contest.

My idea was "Buy your name on a Blizzcon ticket that someone LUCKIER and AWESOMER then you got." but apparently that was not ketchy enough.

Realm 24 Hour Downtime

Tuesday activities will be disrupted for a swath of realms today. Here is the link to the blue post.

For those that maybe getting this post in their feedreaders and are not be able to see the official WoW forums I listed the realms here. This is one list you may not want to be on today.

Aegwynn
Akama
Aman'Thul
Arathor
Azjol-Nerub
Barthilas
Blackrock
Bloodscalp
Bonechewer
Boulderfist
Bronzebeard
Caelestrasz
Chromaggus
Crushridge
Daggerspine
Darkspear
Dath'Remar
Draenor
Dragonblight
Dragonmaw
Draka
Drak'thul
Dreadmaul
Dunemaul
Eitrigg
Eldre'Thalas
Feathermoon
Firetree
Frostmane
Frostmourne
Frostwolf
Garithos
Gundrak
Gurubashi
Hakkar
Jubei'Thos
Khaz Modan
Khaz'goroth
Kil'jaeden
Kilrogg
Korgath
Kul Tiras
Malorne
Mug'thol
Muradin
Nagrand
Nathrezim
Ner'zhul
Perenolde
Proudmoore
Rexxar
Runetotem
Saurfang
Scarlet Crusade
Sen'jin
Shadow Council
Shadowsong
Silver Hand
Silvermoon
Skywall
Smolderthorn
Spirestone
Stonemaul
Stormscale
Suramar
Terenas
Thaurissan
Thorium Brotherhood
Tichondrius
Uldum
Vek'nilash
Windrunner

Stalk TNB

You still have no ticket to Blizzcon?

Interested? I highly suggest you become a stalker over on Twisted Nether Blogcast this week.

TNB’s live recording is currently done on Tuesdays (tomorrow, if you have lost track). If you are there it will give you the most amount of time. You will also find out more details on their site after.

As my readers I am giving you this heads up.

Isn’t Blizzcon in October?

If you scan the WoW blogs out there you would think it was now. There is enough mention of Blizzcon 2010 out there to make you think it was RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Let us recap. Blizzcon is on October 22-23. Tickets went on sale yesterday. There is another batch of tickets on Saturday.

Husband and I actually booked a room for the weekend. The thought was to be prepared. If we didn’t go we could always cancel. *sigh*

Reality check…

As of October 22 if all things go well we will have a three week old new born.

Yea… I will not be one of those peoples… Dragging their kids to COMPLETELY inappropriate places.

I will never forget when I saw a parent bring what looked like a 7 year old to see Lethal Weapon 4 which is rated R. Listening to that child scream in absolute terror as a character gets rebar pushed through their gut. Said rebar was then used to swing around person on a pole. THIS is where psychiatric couch time comes from peoples!!!!

I went to Blizzcon last year. Loved meeting up with all the people, playing the games the vendors set up, watching the presentations. It pains me to miss it. BUT I would have to get a ticket first….

I got tickets.

Not only did I get tickets … I didn’t even have a queue. Checked out of the site like I was there to buy a sparkling pony. (I don’t have a pony but Husband bought one for himself. Granted he asked if I wanted one… All I could think was “Hydra would KILL ME and take pleasure in it.”)

…But realistically we cannot go.

You can scream at me all you want.

Right after we got the tickets, Husband and I sat down to talk about that to do with them. Looked at what we found fun. I decided if we still just went to the after Blizzcon meet-ups I would be happy.

I checked twitter to see what was up and noticed a woeful twitter from @Fimlys that he didn’t succeed at getting one.

That did it.

Husband and I agreed that our tickets would go to getting Twisted Nether Blogcast to Blizzcon 2010.

Fimlys of @Fimlys of Asleep at the WoW of Twisted Nether Blogcast and of most recently Polygamerous.

Saresa of @Saresa of the warlock blog Destructive Reach. Mostly because I have a vivid recollection of her Aussie accent all slurry and giggly from the last Blizzcon. Maybe I can get her to bring me a little jar of Vegemite to try out.

TNB at Blizzcon 2010 made possible by Hydra of Almost Evils clicking finger.